Set Me Free
by ToriOnTop
Summary: Alternative storyline for the first season of American Horror Story, Murder House. This story does not involve the Harmons (awww), however all other characters (and a few of my own) are present. This is my first fan fiction so please review or message me if you have any comments, questions, etc. Thanks!
1. Chapter 1

American Horror Story: Murder House Fan Fiction

**Title: Set Me Free**

**Overall Plot:** Alternative storyline for the first season of American Horror Story, Murder House. This story does not involve the Harmons (awww), however all other characters (and a few of my own) are present. This is my first fan fiction so please review or message me if you have any comments, questions, etc. Thanks!

**_(A/N- Okay so I'm finally posting the first chapter of my first fan fiction! I think Im overly excited right now. To be honest I don't even think anyone will read this, but if you do….THANK YOU! Oh yea, btw I do not own American Horror Story (Obviously))_**

Chapter 1:

"If you don't like it then get the hell out! Go!"

"You can't tell me to leave my own house, you're the bastard that should be leaving!"

It was Sunday evening, and of course like every other day Shay Mitchell's parents were fighting. For most kids this would probably seem a bit drastic, but not to Shay. This was just a normal evening in her home, her hell. She was numb to the screaming, numb to embarrassing looks her neighbors who had clearly heard the yelling would give her, she barely had any feelings at all actually.

"I wish I would've never met you! Do you know what you've done to me? To our family?"

She could tell by the high-pitched tone in her mom's voice that this fight wasn't going to end anytime soon. So she did what she always did, locked herself in her room, put on her headphones, and took out her phone to text Tate, her only friend.

S: _Hey _

T: _Hey. What's up?_

S: _Nm, just relaxing._

T: _Want me to come over?_

There was a loud thud coming from her parents bedroom, followed by hysterical wailing. With a sigh, Shay got up and went over to their room, she already knew what she would see. Her mom was pushed up against the wall with her dad's hands around her neck. Once her dad saw her he immediately stopped what he was doing.

"Tell her to stop fucking with me!"

Once again she would spend her night playing referee to her parents.

_—_

**(The Next Day)**

Shay sat alone by her favorite tree in the front of the school. She put had her headphones on, but she wasn't even sure if there was music playing. All she could hear were her racing thoughts. She stared at the busy street across the school, she could easily just get up and walk in the middle of it and wait for the inevitable, but that would be too easy.

"Hey what happened last night? You never answered my text."

In her daze, she hadn't even noticed Tate's arrival. How long had been standing there?

"Oh yea, sorry my phone died. Then I fell asleep."

Of course this was a bogus excuse, but she what else could she say? She didn't want Tate to know what was going on, she didn't want anyone to know. It was bad enough that her neighbors could occasionally hear the yelling, the embarrassment from that alone nearly destroyed her. Besides, Tate has his own demons to deal with and she didn't need him to worry about her. Shay can take care of herself.

Thankfully, Tate didn't ask anymore questions and they made their way inside. They were an unusual pair, complete opposites actually. Tate with his pale, ghostly skin and disheveled blond hair always said things like "High school counts for jack shit." He was an average student, but compared to Shay he was a total underachiever. Shay was one of the top, if not the top, student in her class. In fact, she already had offers from a few colleges, college was her ticket out of here, her only escape.

—

"I'm telling you, there's no way that you can eat all that."

"And I'm telling you to sit back and watch the champ."

Shay and Tate were sitting in Tate's living room with three bags of family sized chips. They usually spent most afternoons here ,or at the diner, or the lake, basically anywhere that they could hang out together. Well anywhere, except Shay's house. She never wanted to be there herself, so why would she want Tate to come? Besides, she loved hanging out at Tate's house.

It's more of a mansion rather than a house, way bigger than Shay's. It was filled with all sorts of antique looking furniture and there was just something special about the house that Shay couldn't put her finger on. Whenever she was there she felt like she belonged, almost as if the house itself didn't want her to leave.

Shay had made it halfway through her first bag of chips when she heard the sound of the front door opening. That meant that Tate's mother Constance and his little sister Addy were home from grocery shopping. She looked over at Tate who was starting to become tense, things haven't been so good between Tate and his mom and Shay couldn't understand why. Constance was always so sweet and kind to her, she always told her how grateful she was that she and Tate were friends.

"Shay!" As soon as she saw Shay, Addy always ran up and gave her a giant hug.

"Hey there pretty girl."

Tate couldn't help but smile. He and Addy had a special bond and not a lot of people treated her as kindly as Shay did. Not a lot people treated Tate as kindly as Shay did either, she was always so kind to everyone. Tate always thought that she was too good for this world. He silently wished that there was some way to rescue her from all the pain in the world.

"Oh, hello Shay, you're looking beautiful as always." Constance glanced over at her son. "Tate get in there and help your sister put away the groceries."

With a sigh Tate and Addy went to the kitchen, Shay got up to follow but Constance blocked her path.

"Shay can we chat for a minute?"

"Um, sure Mrs. Langdon."

"Now you know I'm a widow dear, please just call me Constance."

Constance was always telling Shay to call her Constance, but she always called her Mrs. Langdon anyway. It made her feel weird to call someone's mom by their first name, but it did made Constance a lot more relatable.

"So, what did you want to talk about Mrs. Lang—Constance?"

She took a seat next to Constance on the couch. She could tell it must've been something pretty serious, judging, by the concerned look on her face.

"It's about Tate dear…has he been acting strange lately?" Constance questioned in a whispered tone.

"Um nope, he's been the same."

"I see. Well it's just that I'm worried about him, would you mind keeping an eye in him for me? He won't talk to me, but I'm sure he'd tell you."

Shay didn't get a chance to reply because Tate walked back into the room. Constance excused herself, and Addy had gone to the basement to play with her imaginary friends. Tate questioned Shay about what his mom wanted, but she just brushed him off. She really didn't want to get in the middle of whatever was happening between those two. She had enough drama in her own life.

**(Later that night)**

Shay sat at her desk in her bedroom, things weren't so bad tonight. Mostly because her dad didn't come home, but that was fine with her. She hoped that he would stay gone forever, but he never did. Usually he was out getting drunk in some run down bar, and he'd drag himself back to the house around 4am.

She couldn't stop thinking about her conversation with Constance. Was there something wrong with Tate? If there was, why hadn't she noticed? Was she too wrapped up in her own sorrow to notice that her best friend needed help? She decided that Constance was probably just overthinking things, mothers did that sometimes. Besides, Tate would tell her if something was going on, wouldn't he? Maybe she would keep an eye on him just in case.

**_(A/N- So I ended up combining chapter 1 and chapter 2, because they were way to short individually)_**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

**_(A/N- Here's chapter two! I've got the bulk of the story planned out in my head, but I'm open to any suggestions. Thank you so much for those of you that followed and reviewed, I appreciate it :) Ummmm, I think that's all I had to say so enjoy.) _**

"Hello…can anyone hear me?"

Shay called out but no one responded. She didn't know where she was or how she got there, but she needed to get out. The room was pitch black, and she could hear the faint sound of the floor creaking. She wasn't alone.

"Where am I?! Who are you?"

Still no response. Shay's heart began to beat faster, obviously she wasn't going to get an answer. Suddenly a single bulb hanging from the ceiling lit up, revealing an empty rocking chair in the center of the room. She watched the chair sway back and forth, holding her breath.

She tried to take a step forward, but her feet couldn't move. She was paralyzed. Her body wouldn't cooperate with anything her mind told it to do.

"What the hel-"

She was interrupted by the piercing shrill of her alarm clock. She groggily opened her eyes and laughed to herself. It was just a dream, a nightmare. She crawled out of bed and told herself to never eat that many chips before bed again. She made her way downstairs and grabbed a bowl of cereal.

"Morning, baby girl."

"Morning."

This was pretty much the only words her and her father ever said to one another. Shay tried to avoid him as much as possible. She used to be daddy's little girl, but that was before she could understand who "daddy" really was. She couldn't even remember the last time she had told her father that she loved him. She didn't ming though. She actually preferred minimal interaction with her father over needing to pretending like she actually gave a fuck about him.

An hour later Shay was waiting for Tate under her favorite tree. As she saw him approaching, her conversation with Constance replayed in her head. She sort of owed it to Constance to at least try and find out if something was wring with Tate.

"Hey."

"Hey, what took you so long?"

"Got held up. The cocksucker wouldn't leave me alone this morning, she keeps going on about how her boyfriend's coming over for dinner tonight."

There was only one person that Tate hated more than his mother, his mother's boyfriend Larry. Everything about the guy was just wrong, that stupid grin he always had, his hat, even the guy's name was ridiculous. _Larry Harvey,_ who the hell has two first names? This guy needed to disappear…now.

"You know I hate it when you call her that. Besides this Larry guy can't be that bad."

Shay's voice bought Tate back to reality. She was the only person that could do that. Sometimes when the voices in his head go too loud, all Tate had to do was think about Shay and they'd stop.

"O yea, why don't you come over tonight and see for yourself?"

"Fine, I'll come over and meet big, bad Larry."

—

**(At the Langdon's)**

Tate sat opposite of Larry, staring without a single flinch. It was obviously making everyone else at the table, especially Larry, uncomfortable. After a few moments of awkward silence, Shay kicked Tate under the table to snap him out of it.

"Um, Tate can I speak to you for a minute?"

They both got up and excused themselves from the dinning room. As they left they heard the faint sound of Constance apologizing and Addy giggling.

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Seriously Tate? Can't you see that this guy makes your mom happy? Why can't you just be happy for her?"

Tate stared at Shay, trying to choose his next words wisely.

"He's married you know. Wife, kids, everything. I followed him home and—"

He was getting worked up. His face was turning red and his words came out fast and jumbled up. This only happened when Tate was really upset about something and if he didn't calm down soon, he was going to go into another one of his rages. Luckily, Shay always knew how to calm him down, even when he couldn't calm himself down.

She placed her arm around Tate and pulled him into her. She whispered into his ear as tears rapidly fell down his face.

"Why don't we go for a walk? Just you and me, ok?"

She didn't give him a chance to respond. She grabbed his hand and led him through the back door. She had no idea where they were heading, she just knew that she needed to get him far away from Larry for a while. They walked in silence for about five minutes, but not once did she let go of his hand.

"I'm sorry." Tate broke the silence.

"It's ok. Listen, I know you hate the guy, but you can't let yourself get worked up like this ok? Please just try not to…for me?"

He looked down at their intertwined hands. He was so never wanted Shay to see him loose control. He wanted to protect her, not scare her. What if he lost control again and ended up hurting Shay? He wouldn't be able to live with himself.

"I'd do anything for you, Shay. Anything. I mean it I…I love you."

For once in her life she was speechless. Tate instantly cursed himself for admitting this to her. He knew that she could never feel the same way.

"You're an idiot, you know that?"

Without a second thought, Shay leaned up and gently placed her lips on his. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he wrapped his around her waist. They both wished that they could stay in this moment forever. Shay pulled back and looked up at a smiling Tate. He always smiled the most when he was with Shay. She was his light, his happiness, his world.

"And I love you too."

**_(A/N- I just read a review saying that Shay is already a character. Wow, I feel so stupid I didn't even realize that I used the name of an actress from PLL. I just really like the name…)_**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

**_(A/N- I'm really surprised at the amount of views this story has so far, I know it's not a lot compared to some people, but still I'm happy. What do you guys think so far? Do you want more drama, more romance, more suspense? Let me know and review please.)_**

"Oh my God! Why?!"

Tate was awoken by his mother's shrills. Before he could fully awaken, he found himself running down the stairs. When he made it to the living room, he found his mother curled up into a small ball in the center of the floor. She tightly gripped the television's remote control in her right hand.

He looked up at the television, the words "Breaking News" were flashing on the screen. According to a reporter there had been a fire at 557 W Peters Ave. Tate's eyes widened in realization…that was Larry's address.

"Tate?"

He turned around and saw a confused Addy. She didn't need to see this.

"Go play, Addy. Everything's fine."

"The twins told me to come up here. They—"

"Godammit Addy, just go to your room ok?"

He turned back to the TV, shots of firefighters and paramedics filled the screen. Most of the fire had been put out, but small flames still escaped from windows on the second floor. His mother continued sobbing, louder and louder as the reporter stated that the Harveys had not survived the fire.

He couldn't help, but think that somehow this was karma for all the wrong that Larry had committed. This all probably could've been avoided if Larry could've just kept it in his pants.

"Serves him right."

Tate mumbled as he headed back up the stairs.

"What the hell did you just say?"

He had gotten so used to ignoring his mom, that he was taken aback when she spoke up. She still had the remote tightly grasped in her hand.

"You heard me, the fucker deserved every single burn."

"You shut the hell up! That man had a family Tate! And now they're all gone, it's not just Larry!"

He hadn't even thought of that, not that it really made a difference to him. He was actually kinda glad, at least they died as a family. At least those kids were finally set free from this hell hole of a world.

"You wipe that silly grin of your face!"

Constance threw the remote at Tate, but he ducked. It was one thing for her to yell at him, but there was no way in hell that he was going to let a cocksucker throw things at him. He charged at his mother and grabbed both of her arms with is fists.

"Get off me! You did this! I know you did!"

Constance struggled to free herself from her son's grip, but he overpowered her. She looked into his eyes and didn't recognize the person that was furiously staring at her. This was her sweet son Tate, this was a monster. Without uttering a single word, Tate shoved her against a wall and walked out the front door.

Twenty minutes later, Tate was standing at Shay's front door. He had only been here a few times, when her parents weren't home. He knew that she probably didn't want him there now, but he had no where else to go. He wasn't going to stay there while his mom accused him of things he didn't do. Besides, things were different between them now. He decided that knocking wouldn't be a good idea, so he texted her.

_T: Hey, you up?_

_S: I am now. Why?_

_T: I need you_

_S: Perv lol _

_T: No, not like that. I'm outside_

"You do realize it's like four am, right?"

Tate smiled, there was his girl, standing in the doorway with her pajamas and messy bed hair. Even when she was half asleep, she still looked like a perfect angel to him. He suddenly stopped smiling when he realized why he was here. What was he going to tell her? That he just attacked his mom and now he needed a place to cool down for the rest of the night? That he went into another rage just hours after he had promised her that he wouldn't?

"Yea I know, but…I just…"

He didn't want to lie to her, but he didn't want to tell the truth either, at least not right now. Eventually he would explain everything to her, just not tonight. Unfortunately for him, Shay was able to pick up that something was wrong.

"Had a fight with Constance?"

He nodded, that was sort of what happened. Shay grabbed his hand, and motioned for him to stay quiet. She led him up the stairs into her room and shut the door behind them. Under normal circumstances, she never would've snuck Tate into her room, but she could tell that he really needed her right now.

"Thanks for letting me stay here."

"You would've done the same for me, don't worry about it. We just gotta get you out of here before my parents wake up."

A silence fell upon the room. Obviously, Shay only had one bed so the two of them were going to have to sleep together. Shay cleared her throat and sat on her bed, looking up at the still standing Tate. This was way more awkward than either of them thought this would be.

"You know you can sit down…you don't have to stand there."

"Oh, um right."

He sat down next to Shay and avoided eye contact. Why was she making him so nervous? Shay placed her gently on his cheek and turned his gaze towards her. Whenever he looked into her big beautiful eyes, he could barely control himself. He leaned in and kissed her soft lips. They kissed sweetly for a few moments, but soon they became aggressive.

Shay moved her tongue across Tate's lips, signaling him give her entrance. Their tongues battled for dominance until Shay needed to come up for air. Tate smirked and kissed her neck as he leaned her back on the bed.

"Wait…Tate…"

She could barely get the words out. Tate kissed up her neck and back to her lips. This felt so good and Shay didn't want it to stop, but she knew it had to. She placed her hands on his chest and slowly pushed him off of her. Tate gave her a baffled look.

"What's wrong?"

"We can't, not while my parents are in the house."

He laughed at himself, what was he thinking? Shay was right, this would have to wait. He smiled and gave her a kiss on the cheek before laying down next to her. She snuggled up against him and rested her head on his chest. At that moment he didn't even care that they had to stop, he was perfectly happy just holding her until they both fell asleep. Shay was already beginning to drift off to sleep.

"I love you so much."

He whispered in her ear before falling asleep too.

**_(A/N- Took me a while to write this, it was homecoming week, so I was super busy. Sooooo what did you think? I've been thinking about writing another fan fiction for Avatar: The Last Airbender, but I'm not sure if I can manage two stories at once.)_**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

**_(A/N- Guess what? This story has over 200 views! Thanks so much everyone. Also, please don't forget to review and tell me what you think so far. What do you think is going to happen next? Some of you can probably figure it out ;)…I want to get to know people on here so feel free to message me at anytime!)_**

Shay was shaken awake by the sound of glass smashing against a wall. By now it was just second nature for her to go downstairs and try to diffuse her parents. She climbed out of bed and groggily made her way to the living room. There was a broken vase in at the foot of the stair and her father was threatening to slit his throat with one of the glass shards. She secretly wished that he would.

As she debated whether or not she should try to stop him, she heard a shuffling at the top of the stairs. Suddenly, she was wide awake. She had completely forgotten that Tate had spent the night, and now he was standing there, witnessing her everyday life firsthand. She rushed up the stairs and shoved Tate into her room before her parents noticed her was there.

"What the hell was that?!"

"You need to leave."

Tate's face was hard to read. There was a mix of shock, worry, and something else she couldn't pick up. He shook his head and took a step closer to her.

"Come with me, I'm not leaving you here."

There was another loud crash, followed by her mother screaming for Shay. She took a step towards the door and looked at him with pleading eyes.

"Listen, I really don't have time for this so please, if you love me just leave. Please?"

She bolted out of the room to find her mother. Tate wasn't sure what he should do. He knew that she didn't want him there, but he didn't want to leave her. He didn't want to upset her any further, so he decided to go. He was able to sneak out the back door without anyone spotting him. Even though he had agreed to leave, there was no way that he was going to let this go.

**(Later that Day)**

Shay had fifteen missed calls and thirty texts from Tate, he was clearly worried about her. She really didn't want to talk to him right now, but at the same time he was the only person she wanted to talk to. She decided to answer him on the sixteenth call. She tried to sound as perky as possible.

"Hey, Tate"

"Hey! Listen I know you—"

"Can you just come over?"

Tate went silent on the other end, he really wasn't expecting her to answer the phone, let alone invite him over.

"I'll be there in 10."

He hung up before she could change her mind and rushed over to her house. He wasn't that far from her house. He still hadn't gone home and had spent his morning chatting with the staff at the twenty-four hour McDonald's about a block away.

She greeted him at the door and invited him inside. All signs of last night's situation had been removed. The broken glass was gone, and the vase had already been replaced with another. To his surprise, Shay's mom stood calmly in the kitchen washing dishes.

"Hello, Tate. It's nice to see you."

Her smile would've looked genuine if Tate didn't know that it was all just a charade. Everything was a fucking charade. Their "happy" family portrait that hung in the living room was a joke. He didn't know why he was getting so angry, but the more he stared at the portrait, the more he boiled inside. For Shay's sake, he decided to play along.

"It's nice to see you, too. Thanks for having me."

Shay led him into the den, thankfully there were no family portraits there. They sat down on the couch and Shay took a deep breath before turning to Tate.

"What you saw last night…you weren't supposed to see that."

Her voice was starting to break. He grabbed her hand and rubbed the back of it with his thumb. He just needed to touch her right now, he needed to show her that it was ok.

"Shay, listen. I know all about fucked up families and there's no reason why we can't talk about what happened. I mean I know—"

He stopped when he realized that she was starting to cry, he had never seen her do that before. She had seem him tear up plenty of times, more than he would like to admit, but now their roles were reversed. He pulled her into his arms and rubbed her back.

"I'm just so tired Tate. I just…I just need to get out of here."

"Shhh, I know. I know. We'll both get away and it'll be just you and me. Just you and me."

After a few minutes of silence, Shay's tears stopping rolling down her cheeks and her breathing returned to normal. She wanted to lighten the mood so she grabbed the remote and flicked on the television. A breaking news bulletin flashed on the screen, the reporters were discussing new details in last night's fire.

"Tate! That's Larry! Oh my gosh that's Larry!"

The reporter was stating that the fire did not appear to be accidental. Apparently traces of gasoline had been found on the bodies of the victims. A neighbor reported seeing a strange figure lurking around the neighborhood just before the fire started.

"Yea, I know…I guess he got what was coming to him."

Without another word, he flipped the channel. It was unbearable for him to watch the news, there were always stories about killings or rape. Pretty much everything wrong with the world.

"So, when are you going to tell me why you came over last night?"

He froze, he really didn't want to talk about this. He just wanted to forget everything that happened in the last few days. If he told her about what he did to his mom she'd freak out. Even worse, she'd probably never speak to him again. Then he'd really be alone.

"I just really needed to be with you."

**_(A/N- I wish I had a best friend like Tate…well minus the killing and stuff. You know what I mean. Anyways for some reason I don't get a lot of reviews for this story :( Does anyone mind helping me out? I just really want to know your thoughts/opinions.)_**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

**_(A/N-This chapter is pretty much the climax of this fanfic. Expect big changes, and hopefully some surprises. Also, thank you for your reviews! I will try to take any suggestions I'm given and incorporate them into the story.)_**

"Follow me, it's right downstairs in the basement."

It was Sunday afternoon at the Langdon's, Constance had gone out to Larry's memorial service. His body was never recovered from the fire, so the county was going to have a small service in his memory. Her and Tate were barely on speaking terms yet, but she left him in charge of taking care of Addy while she was away. She didn't completely trust him alone with Addy, so she called up Shay and asked her to keep an eye on him. She was confused, but agreed anyway.

"Tate, what the hell are you gonna show me in the basement?"

"Shhhh, just come on."

She shook her head and followed him down the stairs. The floor creaked louder with each step they took. Tate sprinted ahead of her and disappeared around a corner.

"Follow me."

Something in her gut was telling her that this wasn't right, but she continued anyway. She made her way around the corner and froze dead in her tracks.

"No…no this doesn't make sense."

She whispered to herself. Tate was no where to be found, but there in the middle of the room was a rocking chair, silently swaying back and forth. This was exactly like her dream, but that made no sense.

"Tate! Stop messing around!"

Of course, there was no response. She heard someone giggling behind her and quickly turned around. No one was there. That was it, she was getting out of here. Before she could take a single step something latched on to her leg, knocked her down.

"What the fuck!"

This horrible beast was on top of her, clawing at every inch of her skin. She screamed and fought, refusing to let it overtake her. She could barely see anything, other than a pair of devilish eyes and staring deep into her soul.

"No! Go away! You son of a bitch, get off of me!"

"Mama?"

The beast whispered in her ear and the lights flickered on. She blinked with disbelief. When her eyes readjusted, she saw Tate standing by the light switch. He rushed over to her and helped her off the floor.

"Oh, shit Shay!"

"We have to get out of here…we… we have to go now!"

He tried to calm her down, she didn't even realize that tears were streaming down her face until he tried to wipe them away. Why wasn't he listening to her? They were in danger.

"Everything's ok, you just fell."

"No Tate! Something attacked me! It was the devil! I saw him…I…I looked into his eyes!"

She began shaking and sobbing uncontrollably. Tate tried to wrap his arms around her, but she pushed him off. She started running towards the stairs, but Tate blocked her exit.

"And where the hell were you? You left me! You left me, Tate!"

She pushed through him and ran up the steps two at a time. There was no way in hell she was staying at this house. She was getting as far away as she could. Tate watched her run, he didn't know what else to do. She thought that he abandoned her, she hated him now.

"You know what you have to do now…"

A voice in his head whispered. He always tried to ignore the voices, but this time they were right. They were probably right this entire time.

"Yes, I know."

**(The next morning)**

Shay hadn't seen or heard from Tate since the incident at his house on Sunday, and to be honest she didn't want to. He was just going to tell her that she tripped and fell, but she knew that was complete bull shit. She wouldn't have scar on her cheek from just falling over. She didn't bother to tell her parents, because of course they wouldn't believe her. She wouldn't believe herself either.

It was a usual day at Westfield High and that's exactly what Shay needed right now. Something normal for once in her life. She sat in her English class and tried to focus on her assignment. She decided to go to the bathroom to tun some cold water on her face, she hadn't slept at all last night. Every time she closed her eyes, she was in the basement again.

She heard a scream coming from the hallway. It was probably just some freshmen messing around. She stepped outside the bathroom and saw a crowd of students and teachers fleeing. There must be a fight going on. She went in the opposite direction, heading back to her class when the principal came on the loudspeaker.

"Attention, this is a code red. I repeat, a code red. Please evacuate the building immediately. There is a weapon on campus."

Shays mind went into a frenzy. A weapon? Here? Now? She ran towards to closest exit, but a black-cloaked figure blocked stepped in front of her. She took a step back looking up at her tormentor.

"Wait…Tate? You almost scared me to death! Come on we have to get out of here."

He was silent, she stared at him suddenly coming into realization. She looked at his hand a her eyes locked on the gun that he was tightly gripping.

"No…no, no, no!"

She turned to run, but he grabbed her.

"Let me go! You're hurting me!"

She struggled, be he was much stronger than she was. He lifted her up, and carried her into the nearest classroom. He dropped her in the middle of the room and shut the door behind him.

"Listen the last thing I want to do is hurt you."

He talked as he took out a rope from his bag.

"I'm trying to save you right now, I don't want you to get hurt, so I need you to stay here. I need you to stay here, where it's safe."

"What? Tate stop, you don't have to do this. Please."

She tried to reason with him, but he ignored her and grabbed her arms and legs, tying her to one of the desks.

"Is it too tight? Please try to understand that I have to do this, ok? I love you Shay."

He kissed her on the forehead and left the room. She called after him, tears running down her face. She knew he wasn't going to come back.

**_(A/N: It's been a while since I've updated my story, but finally here's chapter 5! I have to admit that this is my favorite chapter. It was also the most fun to write so far. I'm way to excited for the next chapter, so hopefully I will get to post that soon.)_**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

**_(A/N- Wow, over 400 views! You guys are amazing! I'm actually starting to gain confidence in my writing now, so thank you so much. This will probably only be about 10 chapters long, so we're more than halfway through it now. *tears*) _**

She heard him slam the door, she heard the shrilling screams, she heard the police sirens racing to the school, and worst of all, she heard the gunshots. _Bang, bang, bang!_ How many shots had he fired? Or was it the police shooting at him? Why would he do this? Why didn't he talk to her first?

Too many questions raced through her mind. It was all too much for her. The room around her began to spin. She tried to stand, but immediately fell over, her legs still bound to the chair. She lay on the floor, staring at the clock…12:42…then everything went black.

"We found another one!"

Someone was lifting her off the ground, but she couldn't open her eyes to see who. Had she fallen asleep on the couch? Why was she so cold?

"Are you ok?! She's unresponsive!"

She allowed herself to be carried, but she could barely feel her body. She managed to open her eyes slightly to steal a glance at the clock…1:07. Slowly her memory began to come back to her and her eyes widened.

She was being put on a stretcher and carried outside of the school. There were tons of people standing outside, some crying, some yelling. A news crew was blasting questions at her that she couldn't comprehend. She tried to open her mouth to speak, but no words came out. She silently allowed herself to be placed into the ambulance as she drifted off to darkness again.

She awoke hours later as someone grabbed her hand.

"…Tate?"

"Shh, honey. He can't hurt you anymore."

It was her mother, her father was sitting on the opposite side of her. They both looked genuinely worried.

"He didn't hurt me…he…he said he was going to protect me."

Her parents exchanged a worried glance. A tear began to swell up in her mother's eyes.

"Honey, you need to rest your head."

She let go of her mother's hand and touched her head. There was a thick layer of gauze wrapped around her head. She looked at her fingertips and saw blood.

"Mom, no Tate didn't do this. I fell, it was an accident."

Her parents shook their heads and kissed her on the cheek. She was going to object further, but a doctor walked in. He examined her bandages, ran a few tests, and told her that she would be free to go home in a few days. Shay smiled and nodded sweetly, but in reality she was only half-listening.

As soon as he left, Shay spoke up.

"What happened to Tate? What room is he in?"'

Her father opened his mouth to say something, and then closed it again. A nurse strolled into the room with a pitiful look on her face.

"I'm sorry, visiting hours are over. She needs her rest."

Her parents began to say there goodbyes.

"What I need are some answers! Why won't you answer me?"

"Honey, stop yelling."

"I'm not yelling! I just—"

She couldn't finish her sentence, she starting choking on her words and coughing uncontrollably. The nurse quickly dismissed her parents and gave her some medication. Apparently, this would help her nerves, but she doubted it. She spent the entire night staring at the ceiling, every time she closed her eyes she saw blood.

More doctors and more nurses came to check up on her, give her medication, readjust her pillows, etc. He parents came to visit, but they refused to answer any of her questions about Tate. Soon an unfamiliar face came into the room.

"Hello Shay, I'm Dr. Keller. I'm here to talk to you about…the incident."

He gave a brief nod to her parents, she guessed that was their cue to leave.

"Shay whatever we talk about here is just between us. You can ask and say whatever you want."

She scoffed and laughed to herself.

"Oh I get it. You're a shrink, you're here because everyone thinks I'm crazy."

"I'm a psychologist, yes, but no one thinks you're crazy. I just need you to answer some questions, and I'll answer any of yours."

She really didn't like the idea of talking to a shrink, but hell what else could she do if she wanted answers? She sighed and tried to sort through her thoughts before speaking.

"Ok, me first. What happened to Tate?"

Without any hesitation, Dr. Keller responded.

"He's dead. He was shot dead in his bedroom, eleven minutes after the school shooting."

This couldn't be right, Tate couldn't be dead. She hadn't even considered that as a possibility. She figured that the police would have seized him, but she never even imagined that they would shoot him dead. Was it jut her or was the room starting to spin again?

"Shay, I know that this must be difficult to hear."

"Difficult to hear! Ha! Yea that's one way to describe it!"

She shook her head in disbelief. Dr. Keller offered her some tissues, but she refused. There was no stopping her tears.

"I think that that's enough for today. I can let this sink in and we can continue tomorrow."

As he got up to leave, she grabbed his arm.

"No, let's continue now. It's your turn to ask something."

He sat back down and stared at her sternly.

"Ok…did you know what Tate was going to do that day?"

"No, go course not. I had no idea. We weren't even speaking when it happened?"

He wrote something down in his notepad. They continued asking and answering questions back and forth for about half an hour. Shay had pretty much found out the entire story by now. Tate had brought a loaded gun into the school, murdered fifteen students, and injured a teacher. After he fled to his home where he was shot by the SWAT in his bedroom. She had stopped crying now, tears would do her no good.

She wasn't even sure why she was crying in the first place. Was she crying for Tate? For the students? For herself? It was probably a combination of it all. She was kind of numb to it all now, more than anything she wanted a fresh start.

A few days later she was released from the hospital. Hundreds of people, news reporters, and camera crews were waiting outside to see her…the freak that was friends with the killer. They yelled threats at her saying that this was her fault, but she ignored them. She's stopped caring a while ago.

She spent the next few days inside her room, one night, as she sat on her bed staring out the window, she decided enough was enough. She needed closure…now. She got out of bed, went downstairs, and made her way outside the door. She walked without thinking and before she knew it, she was knocking on Ta—Constance's door.

"Go away! I don't have a story for you, you goddamn reporter!"

"Umm, Constance, it's me…Shay."

The door flung open and Constance pulled her inside.

"Shay! What the hell are you doing here?"

Her breath smelled of whisky, her hair was disheveled, and for once the house wasn't spotless. Constance's eyes darted back and forth frantically.

"I just came to see how you were holding up."

Constance was still holding on to her arms, looking at her in disbelief.

"I need to show you something Shay."

"Um, actually…I think I'd better go. My parents will notice that I'm gone soon."

She was picking up a bad vibe. She understood why Constance was acting so strange, she just lost her son, but it still made her uncomfortable. She tried to leave, but Constance dragged her up the stairs. They were heading to Tate's bedroom. Constance stopped outside the door and swung it open. Shay released herself from Constance's grip.

"I can't go in there. I'm sorry but I can't."

"Shay?"

Shay hit the floor, her mind was playing tricks on her because in the center of the room stood Tate.

**_(A/N- Finally got my until she decided that enough was enough. She needed to let Tate go, she needed closure. wifi fixed! Time for endless Netflix without interruptions…and plenty of fan fiction too!)_**


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